January 4, 2026
Comma drama: bring popcorn
The great shift of English prose
Shorter or smarter? Commenters brawl over sentences, subtext, and the Hemingway myth
TLDR: An essay argues English didn’t merely get shorter; it shifted to a plain, logical style centuries ago, with modern writing echoing speech. Commenters spar over whether length matters, whether context beats grammar, and whether comparing Dickens to Twitter is even fair—complete with eye-rhyme jokes and Hemingway debate
The internet is at it again, arguing about sentences like it’s the Super Bowl of Grammar. A new essay says English didn’t just “get shorter”; the real shake-up happened centuries ago, when writers shifted to a plainer, more logical style—later nudged toward speech-like writing. The kicker: length isn’t the same as complexity. You can write short and still pack a punch, or go long and still be clear.
Cue the comment-section cage match. One camp cheered, saying English is amazing for abstract ideas, while skeptics clapped back that comparing old books to tweets is apples-to-oranges—authors have editors; your coworker does not. The hottest take? Team Syntax vs. Team Subtext. Fans of Hemingway argue short lines hide big meaning between the words; others say analyzing grammar without context is like measuring a song without listening. Meanwhile, a link-dropper showed this debate is a classic, pointing to Julie Sedivy’s Nautilus piece and an older HN thread (here). For comic relief, someone detoured into the “great vowel shift” and eye rhymes—rhymes that work on paper, not out loud. The mood: messy, nerdy, and hilarious. Verdict? English didn’t just shrink; it leveled up—and the commentariat is still throwing commas like confetti
Key Points
- •The article disputes the idea that English prose simply improved by shortening sentences over time.
- •It proposes a major shift in English prose during the 16th–17th centuries toward a plain style and logical syntax, influenced by commerce and post-Reformation Christianity.
- •A second, modern shift aligned written English more closely with spoken English.
- •The author argues sentence length is a poor measure of complexity; complexity depends on how ideas are structured and progressed.
- •The article defines sentence structure (main and dependent clauses) and types (simple, compound, complex, complex-compound), emphasizing punctuation’s role in clarity.